A little known composer gets his due

 

   A flamboyant biopic about Joseph Bologne, Chevalier tells the story of a little known Caribbean-born black man (Kelvin Harrison Jr) who became a virtuoso violinist and composer in 18th Century Paris.

 Eager to declare its boldness, the movie opens with a bristling scene in which Bologne upstages none other than Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Joseph Prowen) in a battle of dueling violins.

  This dramatic overture signals the movie's ardent approach. Director Stephen Williams shakes off musty period-piece trappings, serving up swelling arpeggios of emotion, sex, bigotry, and ambition.

   Against all odds, Bologne rises in French society, having been awarded the rank of Chevalier by an admiring Marie Antoinette (Lucy Boynton) in the days just before the outbreak of the Revolution.

  While preparing for an audition to become director of the prestigious Paris Opera, Bologne falls for Marie-Josephine de Montalembert (Samara Weaving), a singer who defies her racist husband (Martin Czokas) by taking the lead in Bologne's opera. 

      She also becomes the lead in Bologne's romantic life.

     After Bologne's mother (Ronke Adekoluejo) is freed from enslavement in Guadeloupe, she turns up in Paris. By this time, Bologna believes that his musical superiority can topple any barrier. He doesn't fully embrace the woman his white plantation owning father bedded. 

     In an earlier flashback, we learned that Bologne's father brought him to Paris as a boy and left him at a school for budding musicians.

     Harrison conveys Bologna's talent, arrogance, and charm in a role that could turn him into a bankable leading man, and the supporting cast -- notably Weaving and Boynton -- fills both costumes with style and assertion.

      The arc of the story is clear. Inevitably, French society will rebuff the Chevalier, reminding him that a title and talent aren’t sufficient to overcome bigotry. 

     Learning that he'll never be accepted as a quintessential Frenchman, a chastened Bologne finally listens to his mother and finds comfort among his fellow Caribbeans. 

    Recognizing ambitions larger than his own, he also joins the revolutionary ranks.

      Chevalier seldom meets a beat it doesn’t underline. You half expect the characters to break into arias of triumph, suffering, and romance as the plot unfolds.  

      But Harrison's performance engages, the social dynamics of the story (though broadly drawn) ring true, and the movie proves entertaining -- even if it doesn't quite attain the level of significance that the subject seems to demand.